The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, has said that the forthcoming election into the office of National Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) should not be a do-or-die affair.

A statement issued by his spokesman, Turaki Hassan, said Dogara spoke when he declared open the Second Christian Pilgrim Stakeholders Summit organised by the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission in Abuja, on Tuesday.

Dogara told the Christian leaders that the task before them is to build unity of purpose in accordance with teachings of Jesus Christ.

“The body of Christ is not divided, and leadership in the Kingdom is not about what you desire to do”, he said.

The Speaker said: “election into leadership of the Church should not be a do-or-die affair at all. Let it be that we are yielding our output for God.”

Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara in a handshake with the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, during the Second Christian Pilgrimage Stakeholders Summit at National Christian Centre, Abuja, onTuesday, 23rd February, 2016..Picture, Speaker’s Media Office

Dogara charged all Christians to ensure that “we emerge stronger from this election and be united more than ever before.”

The Speaker further stated that Nigeria can only attain its dreams and aspirations of being one of the developed countries of the world if it focuses on ways of creating wealth.

While calling for wealth creation through youth development, the Speaker commended the innovative efforts made by the NCPC to generate funds to sustain its activities in light of the federal government’s withdrawal of sponsorship of citizens to pilgrimage.

He stated, “I also urge other leaders to key into this because the future of our country and our youths lies with wealth creation through skills acquisition.”

He continued, “The benefits of prayers and spiritual exercises such as pilgrimage cannot be overemphasized but sometimes the resources for such exercises are simply not there for a lot of our people. In this regard, when we pool resources and apportion the limited resources to sponsor certain number of pilgrims at each of the four pilgrimages in a year through the “WIN A TRIP TO ISREAL” promo, we encourage more Christians to participate.

When a portion of the pooled resources go to the government TRUST FUND to pay for special /intervention projects, we perform a civic duty that gives us an advantage; to suggest special/intervention projects that would benefit our people.”